Bus heating system



Nov. 3, .1 931. L. P. HYNES BUS HEATING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 5, 1926 LE P. HYNES Gnome I K 95 m Patented Nov. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEE P. HYN'ES, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO CON- SOLIDATED CAR HEATING COMPANY, INC.,- ALBANY, NEW YORK, A. CORPORA 'IION' OF NEW YORK I BUS HEATING SYSTEM Application filed February 5, 19a. Serial m). 86,266.

of wherein ig. 1 shows my invention in a diagrammatic form,

Fig. 2 illustrates the control of the engine by the flame damper.

My invention relates to means for heating a ve icle, such as a motor bus, driven by a hydrocarbon engine, and contemplates the production of the required heat by the re-' combustion of the contents of the engine exhaust.

Referring to the drawings, R represents the body of the vehicle and R the propelling englne therefor. A is the exhaust pipe leading from the engine manifold. It passes to a carburetor B by which air is drawn through the intake pipe C and mingled with the exhaust gases. From carburetor B the mixture passes by pipe A to the burner D. This burner consists of a hollow disc-shaped casting into which the mixture from pipe A enters from below, and which is provided with burner nipples on its upper face. .Burner D is contained in the lower half of a twopart casting or combustion chamber G which is also provided, above the burner, with a grating F of lava or other refractory material. The upper half is dome-shaped, as shown, and the two halves are provided with flanges by which they may be bolted together. Moreover, the joint between the two halves is outside the sheet metal receptacle G to be hereinafter described. Thereby any leakage from the casting, such as may be caused by the extreme range of expansion and con traction to which it is subject by virtue of its wide variation in temperature, will be into the atmosphere and not into the said receptacle G In the center of burner D, and slightly above it, is the smaller pilot burner E which may be termed the ignition burner, since it serves to start and maintain the re-combustion of the exhaust products in burner D, while it also serves as an alternative source of heat for the vehicle when the engine is not running and when thereby the fuel supply for burner D ceases. The igmtion burner E is mounted on the upturned end of a pipe K leading from fuel tank L and containing an injector K which draws in air through pipe K and mixes it with the fuel coming from tank L on its way to burner E. The fuel in tank L is expelled therefrom by air pressure in pipe L derived from the brake system or any other available source. The upper half of casting G is enclosed above its jointing to the lower half in a sheet metal receptacle G and communicates on its rear side with a group of fines or pipes H enclosed in a sheet metal duct H which extends from said receptacle G to the rear of the car body into which it opens at M. The dues or ipes H continue out through the wall of not I-P-and open into the atmos here. The left end of said receptacle 2 connects, by opening 0, with a duct P wherein is a sirocco blower T that sucks the air out from receptacle Gr through said openin O and delivers it, through duct P, into the orward end of the vehicle body. Branching from duct P is a duct J that opens into the atmosphere. At the junction of ducts P and J is a damper Q by'which the blowerdriven blast may be directed, either partly or wholly, either into the vehicle body, as described, or into the atmosphere through duct J. The blower T is operated in any desirable manner, preferably by mounting it on a shaft S driven by the engine, whereby, so long as the engine is running and supplying, by its exhaust, the fuel for burner D, the blower is also running. Furthermore, there is a. passage W between the interior of cast ing G and the interior of the casin which contains the engine. This assa e is controlled by a damper V. aid amper may serve to stop the engine in any desirable manner. For instance, this damper, as shown in Fig. 2, when in its vertical position closing the passage W, also acts to complete the ignition circuit of the engine by pressin springcontact a against fixed contact I). onversely, it opens that circuit, thereby stopping the engine, when turned to its horizontal position to open the passage W and establish connection between casting G and the engine casing. By this means I render it impossible for the engine to supply fuel to the re-combustion burner D at a time when the passage W is open and able to lead the hot products of said re-co1nbustion into the engine compartment.

In operation the engine when running will deliver the contents of its exhaust to burner D, together with the air needed for its combustion which it takes in at the carburetor B. This creates an intense fire in the casting G, the heat thereof being steadied by the incandescent grating F, and the products of combustion being carried through the flue-pipes H into the atmosphere. This combustion is initiated by the pilot burner E which burns constantly, being supplied with aerated fuel from tank L which is under air pressure as heretofore described. It has been previously proposed to employ a spark plug for this igniting the exhaust at the beginning, but by my improvement the pilot burner heats the exhaust up to the ignitlon point instantly, whereas the spark plug will not cause 1gnition until the exhaust has been heated by the engine itself which takes considerable time, since the contents of the exhaust at the starting of the engine are also not of a composition that will ignite readily. Moreover, While the pilot burner E will be immune to the high temperature in casting'G and last indefinitely therein a spark plug kept 1n constant operation under these conditions will have but a short life. The location of the pilot flame E in casting G and its supply under pressure keeps it from being blown out under any circumstances. The blower T, whlch starts on the starting of the engine, will act to draw in at M the air within the bus body. This air will become he-ated as it passes in duct H along the flue pipes H and will be further heated as it passes through receptacle G over the intensely hot dome of casting G.

' Thence it' goes through the opening 0 and blower T into pipe P and into the forward end of the vehicle body. The aforesaid circulation route is marked by arrows on the drawings. Thus the air within the vehicle body is.

kept in circulation and receives added heat during each cycle. By this means the heating is made independent of the external temerature, since it is the air from inside the body which is taken out for re-heating. If such heating were applied to fresh air from outside the vehicle, the inside temperature would be lower in colder than in warmer.

weather. Whatever ventilation and fresh air may be needed in the vehicle body may be obtained by separate means rather than by interference with the heating system. To moderate the body temperature the damper Q may be operated by suitable means to close, or partly close, the duct P and open J, as for instance, by manual means (not shown). It should be explained that the object of reburning the contents of the engine exhaust, is notprimarily to provide heat for the vehicle but to purify the exhaust of its carbon monoxide and other deleterious in redients. It may also have other functions. 0 permit of these functions, I, therefore, regulate, or adjust, the heating of the vehicle by keeping up the re-combustion from which the heat is derived and diverting more or less of its heating effects into the atmosphereinstead of into the body of the vehicle. also simpler than to undertake to regulate or adjust the amount of heat produced.

At times when no heating of the body is desired, as in the summer time, the damper Q will be turned to block off duct 1 leading into the body, while blower T will continue to operate. It will draw the air from the rear of the vehicle over flues H and casting G and then expel it through the duct J into the atmosphere. This has two functions: It produces a cooling and ventilating draft tln'ogh the vehicle and also serves to cool the casting G which is still kept hot by the recombustion which continues to perform its aforesaid function of purifying the exhaust, whether the body needs to be heated or not.

There are also times when heating is required and the engine is not running. This occurs in winter when the vehicle is stored for the night in the open or in a cold garage, or

when it might be stalled in a snow storm with its tank of gasolene for the engine empty or nearly so. For such an emergency the pilot, or ignition burner E is made of suflicient capacity to provide, if desired, an amount of heat adequate to warm the engine and the body to the needful degree. Since the pilot burner is in the casting G it will act in the same manner as burner D to heat the casting and the air which circulates over the casting and through the duct H At the same time the damper V may be opened, thereby stopping the engine as above described, and closing flues H by means of link 9 and the companion damper, when the heatunder the air pressure on tank Lwill pass into the engine compartment to warm both the engine and the radiator enough to prevent freezing and facilitate restarting. When the engine is to be restarted the damper V must be reclosed, in order to start the engine and also to reopen flues H which must not be closed when the re-combustion is going on. Without the pilot flame the starting of the engine would be delayed, and, moreover, the long time required to get the exhaust into condition to be ignited by a spark-plug would be greatly extended with a corresponding increase in the ontpour of carbon monoxide, which is of an excessive volume at that stage of engine operation.

It is also to be noted that my heating system eliminates all need of a muffler which is necessarily provided in all other vehicles us- This is ing a hydrocarbon engine. The burner D may even exert a degree of suction on the exhaust pi e A, which the mufller, on the contrary, ten s to choke by causing back pres sure. The heating is also increased as the speed of theengine and vehicle is increased,

being thus kept commensurate with the requirements due to windage. The apparatus shown herein is comparatively simple and cheap, and may be made compact, readily removable and easil inspected, while it also meets the wide variety of conditions involved in acomplete system of heating.

In a previous application for patent (filed January 26, 1926, Serial No. 83,939) I have made claims including the broader aspects of the above-described invention, but the present embodiment is more recent and particularly concerns the form of the re-burner and its relation to the associated members having in view the commercial use of the invention.

What I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for heating motor vehicle bodies comprising an elongated conduit adapted to enclose the exhaust pipe oi the vehicle motor, an air inlet connecting the interior of the vehicle bodywith the rear end of the conduit, an air pump mounted on the dash of the motor vehicle, means connecting the conduit to the pump intake and means connecting the pump outlet to the forward end of the vehicle body.

2-. In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a receptacle for supplying heated air to the vehicle, a combustion chamber having a heating surface extended into said receptacle so as to heat the air therein, a main burner within said combustion chamber, meansfor supplying said burner With a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from said engine, so that said surface will be heated while the engine is operating, anda pilot burner for the main burner also located within said combustion chamber so as to heat said surface while the engine is not operating.

3; In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a combustion chamber, a main burner within said combustion chamber, means for supplying said burner with a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from said engine, so that the walls of said combustion chamber will be heated while the engine is operating, a pilot burner for the main burner also located within said combustion chamber so as to heat the walls thereof while the engine is not operating, and an air heating receptacle heated by said combustion chamber and communicating with the interior of the vehicle body, so as to supply heated air thereto.

4. In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a receptacle for supplying heated air to the vehicle, a combustion chamber having its walls exposed to the air within said receptacle, a main burner within said combustion chamber,

means for supplying said burner with a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from the engine so that said combustion chamber will be heated while the engine is operating, a pilot burner for the main burnor located within said combustion chamber so as to heat the last mentioned chamber while the engine is not operating, means within said receptacle for creating a circulation of air through the vehicle, and means for diverting heated air to the atmosphere.

5. In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a burner, means for supplying said burner with a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from said engine, an enclosure surrounding said burner and provided with exhaust means for delivering products of combustion to the atmosphere, a receptacle heated by a wall of said enclosure. a duct connecting one end of said receptacle with the rear of the vehicle body, a duct connecting the opposite end of the receptacle with the front of the vehicle, and means for circulating the air from the rear of the body through said receptacle into the front of the body.

6. In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a combustion chamber. a refractory heat absorber therein. a burner located in the lower part of said combustion chamber, means for supplying said burner with a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from said engine, so as to heat said refractory heat absorber while the engine is operating, a pilot burner for the first mentioned burner also located within said combustion chamber. so as to heat said refractory-heat absorber while the engine is not operating, an air receptacle communicating with the vehicle and heated bv said combustion chamber and provided with an extension duct also communicat ing with said: vehicle. an exhaust flue for the combustion chamber extending through said duct. and means for circulating air from the vehicle body through said receptacle.

7'. In a heater for a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a combustion chamber, an air receptacle heated by said combustion chamber. said air receptacle having inlet and outlet means connecting it with the body of the vehicle at two positions and also having means connecting it with the atmosphere, a burner within said combustion chamber, means for supplying said burner with a combustible mixture of air and exhaust gases from said engine, so as to heat said combustion chamber, a blower for cirfor directing said air into the atmosphere or returning it to said body.

8. The combination with a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, of a conduit disposed longitudinally under the vehicle and communicating with the interior of the vehicle at one end, a heating chamber at the other end of the conduit also communicating with the interior of the vehicle, a heater for said heating chamber, means within said heater for reburning exhaust gases from said engine so as to heat the same, an exhaust pipe extending from said heater and delivering the products of combustion through the conduit to the atmosphere, and means for forcing an air current through said conduit around said exhaust pipe and into the vehicle body.

9. The combination with a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, of a heater chamber, means within said chamber for reburning exhaust gases from said engine, said means communicating with the exhaust pipe of the engine, an air heating chamber enclosing a portion of said heater chamber,

means for creating an air current through said air heating chamber so that the air will be heated as it passes over said heater chamber, and means for directing said air current into the vehicle body or into the atmosphere.

Signed at Albany, county of Albany, State of New'York, this 2nd day of February, 1926.

LEE P. HYNES. 

